^^ Observe the above two images. On the right side is the natural state of the Sabarmati River - where you can see it is very irregular and it's very difficult to maintain a constant water level...the banks of the river are unstable and do not allow for any proper construction. On the left side of the screen you can see the 'Engineered' section of the river, where it's possible to maintain a minimum consistent water level and due to filling in of the banks it's possible to construct buildings near it - no space has been wasted. This is in line with how most big cities that are situated on river banks are constructed in any developed country. Check previous posts in the thread for more on this.

The red arrow I drew shows the point where the natural section ends and the engineered section begins.

Some riverfronts are exclusive for the Gods' relaxation only. (Well actually the temple is submerged out of sight! This one is the flooded Brahmaputra and Guwahati Assam in the background).
All these cosmetic 'riverfront' beauty projects are fine. But what we need are a comprehensive national river management like interlinking etc.